Teachers on Myspace?

Everyone is entitled to having as much freedom on the internet as anybody else... as long as it does not affect them professionally. Part of a teacher's job is to maintain a very good personal image. A parent would be appalled if they were to find a MySpace page belonging to a teaxher of their child that was less than professional. Any pictures of smoking, drinking, provocative clothing, or anything of a bad nature reflects poorly on the teacher and may cause parents to consider pulling their students from the class. It is also a bit unnerving that an adult teacher may be able to look more intimately into a student's life. It allows the teacher to find personal details of the student without the student's consent. Teacher's do have the right to have a MySpace, but for the sake of the students, it should be made private, and be made so that the teacher does not add any students to the list of people who may view their profile, or try to add themselves to their students' lists.

Good Foundations Produce Good Results

What can be done to improve the reading habits of students in this day and age? As electronic toys become more abundant and technology becomes a part of even the simplest toys and games, children learn early about video games and computers. With this boost in Microsoft age, it becomes imperative that teachers work with students to make sure that reading levels do not drop. Starting children on books early will develop a stronger sense of understanding. Comprehension levels rise with an increase in reading. A strong imagination arises with an increase in reading. It is a base that affects all other categories of learning, and should not be left to die as America Online and Halo 3 rage. Students that have trouble reading may need special attention from the teacher. Having the child read aloud and identifying the difficulties their having will make it easier to help them. Narrowing it down to a specific flaw, like inability to comprehend while reading, or being unable to read because of a disability like dyslexia will allow for an easier time in finding a solution.

Improved Security Necessary in Schools

More and more we hear reports of violence in schools. We experience it even on our own campuses, just as bad as it possibly was in our highschools. My highschool had 4 different entrances, only one of them guarded with a security gaurd. All of them were unlocked and accesible from the outside, and there are many students in this grade level with similar experiences. Every entrance should be watched, regular drug checks should be made, and security drills are a necessity. When dealing with grade schools, security is even more important what with so many younger children in one place. It is detrimental that these budget cuts on security stop... the money must be taken away from something less important, for if the schools are not safe then classes should not take place at all.

Should School Teachers Be Armed?

Some feel as if providing teachers with guns would be a new and important security measure. Some feel as if it could only make things worse. Would providing a school teacher with a weapon truly improve security? I think not. Having any kind of weapon in the classroom, no matter who's possession it may be in, lessens the secure and safe environment of the public school. God forbid a student with thoughts of attacking his teacher or fellow students was able to get a hold of the weapon, the classroom could become a blood bath. The teacher's themselves would have to be put through the strictest of background checks and interviews to be sure that they themselves would not be the type to lose their temper and use the weapon as a disciplinary device, whether it be just to give the students a scare or worse. This would make the job of teaching more difficult to acquire. I can't be certain if all parents would be upset, but the majority would be put on edge or outright infuriated to find out their children are subject to a stranger with a gun.

Our Blogging Experiences

According to the guidelines of our syllabus, blog participation is a necessary part of our time spent on homework. I chose to post my response to the case study on Julie Amero and was pleasently surprised to soon be contacted by someone who had actually been involved. A person whose name I will omit for courtesy purposes contacted me, interested in hearing about the case study, as they had been on of the original people who worked with the computer to get the guilty verdict vacated. I find it incredible that our blogging for this course allows us to experience interaction with the people who are involved with the very events we are studying. It is a useful tool and allows us to perhaps dig deeper into these studies than we would be able to just by reading from paper and having a discucssion amongst ourselves.

Are The Arts Necessary?

We face a time when students main priorities will lie on improving test scores. It seems as if test scores are the deciding factor in whether a school is successful or not. The focus on testing however, seems a threat against the arts. Math and English, along with some science are the main points of the testing... so greater effort is being put into the teaching of these subjects. Art, Music, and other "extracurricular" subjects might be neglected. The tests have nothing to do with these areas, but we must not let them be abolished. Art inspires creativty, which encourages creative and cognitive thinking. Music inspires devotion, which encourages a stronger sense of willpower and desire to complete all studies, not just studies in one area. With the obesity epidemic ruling in our time, we have no need to worry about losing the area of physical education, but art and music are just as important, in the way they affect the other areas of learning as well as providing the students with their own unique teachings. Students must not be without this culture.

Birth Control Early On

Today we discussed a very controversial subject-- should children ages 11-13 be provided with birth control, and should the school be the one dispensing it? Children should NOT be provided with free birth control pills and condoms. Although it does promote safe sex, it promotes sex itself as well. Children may think, 'Well if the school is giving it to me then it must be ok to have sex'. Not only does it promote sex, but it is very risky to give kids at such a young age something so very adult. An 11 year old girl is NOT going to remember to take birth control pills every day. She may also believe that it does not have to be taken every day. 11 year old boys are not going to know how to use a condom properly. Both sexes at that age will also have little worry of sexually transmitted diseases. They may be warned, but it's compatible to warning a child too much candy will rot their teeth. Just because an adult warned them, it doesn't mean they will listen. The school providing free birth control, combined with the pressure from their peers and at that age, the growing defiance towards adults that comes with puberty, will have an unfortunate end result.

There SHOULD be someone at the school who will be there when kids have questions about sex, but to provide them with information about how they shouldn't do it, or should do it very very carefully, is different than providing them with information about how they shouldn't be doing it, but then giving them the means to do it anyway.